ionigeria.com Nigerian Newspaper (Online)
By AMIR VAHDAT, Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Tuesday that its top court confirmed a death sentence for an Iranian man convicted of spying for the CIA, with state media alleging that he had shared details of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program with the American spy agency.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili identified the purported spy as Amir Rahimpour and said he would be executed soon. Esmaili did not elaborate on what Rahimpour was accused of doing, nor on his age or background. State media did not immediately name Rahimpour’s lawyer.
However, a report by the state-run IRNA news agency alleged that Rahimpour received money from the CIA to share details of Iran’s nuclear program.
“While being in touch with the spy agency, he earned a lot of money as wages as he tried to deliver some information from Iran’s nuclear program to the American agency,” the IRNA report said. Rahimpour “had been identified and prosecuted and sentenced to death and recently, the country’s National Supreme Court confirmed the sentence and, God willing, he will be punishéd soon.”
The CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Esmaili said two other alleged spies for the CIA each received 15-year prison sentences — 10 years for spying and five years for acting against national security charges.
Before the deal, a computer virus believed to be designed by the U.S. and Israel destroyed Iranian centrifuges.
Meanwhile, Iranian nuclear scientists were targeted in a series of assassinations.
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Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.
